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Monday, October 27, 2008

Politics Will an Obama Victory Lead to Celebration, or Chaos?

Posted by Amy J. Ruiz on Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 12:21 PM

Friday's All Things Considered on NPR had a fascinating piece with 15 voters from York, Pennsylvania, who candidly discussed the issue of race. One white woman, Leah Moreland, had this to say about her fears:

"I don't want to sound racist, and I'm not racist.... But I feel if we put Obama in the White House, there will be chaos. I feel a lot of black people are going to feel it's payback time. And I made the statement, I said, 'You know, at one time the black man had to step off the sidewalk when a white person came down the sidewalk.' And I feel it's going to be somewhat reversed. I really feel it's going to get somewhat nasty."

Moreland says she doesn't think all black people will "want payback." "I'm not talking about you, and I'm not talking about them [the black voters also being interviewed]. I'm talking about the people that are out on the street looking for trouble. Putting a black man in the White House -- and if he gets there, he gets there; I'm going to live under his presidency and everything. And I'm still going to be friends with anybody black that wants to be my friend and everything. But I really feel there's going to be a time of adjustment. I really feel it. I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong."

After letting that bounce around my head all weekend, I saw this poster in a new light:

obamavictory.jpg

What I see as an exciting community celebration will, apparently, be viewed as evidence of impending "chaos" by others.

 

Comments (16) RSS

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1
As a Catholic growing up in Portland, my grandmother totally kicked the shit out of a bunch of redneck presbyterians on election night 1960. Ecumenical fuck-tards.
Posted by martin on October 27, 2008 at 12:46 PM · Report
2
Don't be sure of an Obama celebration until McCain gives his concession speech. You can be sure that Diebold, ES & S and Sequoia will be up to some chicanery before this is over, as a matter of fact they're doing some vote flipping right now in TX, WV, and TN.
Look at the flipside, if Obama loses and there is strong evidence of voting machine "mis-tabulations" making the difference, you can bet on chaos.
Neo-Realist
Posted by neo-realist on October 27, 2008 at 1:03 PM · Report
3
That might not be the only problem that could screw up a planned victory party.
Posted by D on October 27, 2008 at 1:03 PM · Report
4
Odds are that, if you have any number of people coming together for any reason, at least a few of them will be dumb fuckers. And it'll just take one dumb fucker doing something stupid anywhere near that march for people like Miss I'm-Not-A-Racist-I-Just-Don't-Trust-The-Blacks to feel like her fears were justified.

I'm far more afraid of what the pissed off rednecks might do.
Posted by nerdliness on October 27, 2008 at 3:18 PM · Report
5
Whenever someone starts a quote with "I'm not racist but..." They should just be hit over the head with a shovel so nobody has to hear whatever racist bullshit they're bound to start spewing.
Posted by Beer Batter on October 27, 2008 at 4:39 PM · Report
6
Ditto what Beer Batter said. If your brain is implanted with any sort of idea at all that blacks are going to rise up and kick butt on whitey, then yeah, you're racist. All us white folks have that bit of fear in us, even me with my black godmother who's been working on anti-racism issues for 20 years, and my black stepfather of 14 years. If you have any doubt, go take this test and prove it to yourself... http://backhand.uchicago.edu/Center/Shoote….

So the best thing to do is to own up to it, so then you can start working on fixing it.
Posted by Paul Cone on October 27, 2008 at 4:46 PM · Report
7
I will have to pay taxes. Not ex-cellent.
Posted by Monty on October 27, 2008 at 5:15 PM · Report
8
Amy, help me out with the electoral math here: Regardless of how Indiana or North Carolina or Pennsylvania goes, the election can't get officically "called" for Obama until 8pm when California polls close, right? I'm curious because I'm trying to figure out what time to stop drinking at whatever bar I'm at that night so I can join the parade north from Hawthorne and MLK.
Posted by martin on October 27, 2008 at 9:06 PM · Report
9
With the assistance of RealClearPolitics' electoral map, Obama won't need the West Coast (CA-OR-WA, all of which have polls that close at 8 pm) IF he gets these currently-toss-up states: Florida (!) and one of the following three: North Carolina, Indiana, or Missouri. Or, if he gets NC, IN and MO, he doesn't need Florida (or the West Coast). And those scenarios keep Montana and North Dakota in toss-up land.
Posted by Amy J. Ruiz on October 27, 2008 at 9:21 PM · Report
10
By my math, Amy's scenario would only work if he got FL and NC. If he got Florida and MO or IN, he'd be sitting at 267... 3 short.

Posted by jeff on October 28, 2008 at 8:57 AM · Report
11
Here's what I did: http://www.portlandmercury.com/images/blog…

I took RCP's current map, changed the Blue west coast to "toss up," gave FL--currently a toss-up--to Obama. That puts him at 260. MO or IN are each worth 11, giving him 271, and giving Martin a green light to go party on MLK.
Posted by Amy J. Ruiz on October 28, 2008 at 9:06 AM · Report
12
I think you're including Hawaii in your vote, which votes after the west coast!
Posted by jeff on October 28, 2008 at 9:35 AM · Report
13
Regardless, he's got CA, OR, WA, and HI in the bag, so it's just kind of a formality to wait until the votes are counted out here, as long as there's no Bradley effect type scenario.
Posted by jeff on October 28, 2008 at 9:48 AM · Report
14
Ok, so this thing could be called as early as 5pm Pacific?
Posted by martin on October 28, 2008 at 10:22 AM · Report
15
Right, HI! But yes, in the bag.

However, I have a feeling we won't know the results of some states, like Florida, right after their polls close. Our party starts at 6 pm, at which point some of the states may have been called. I think we'll have a good sense of the whole thing by 8 pm local time.
Posted by Amy J. Ruiz on October 28, 2008 at 10:31 AM · Report
16
These scary white folks like Leah Moreland really get on my nerves and need to know a few things about black folks like me: 1. We don't spend every waking moment thinking of ways to pay back the white man. We don't care enough about you to do that. 2. We just want you to leave us the hell alone and stop harassing us with your suspicious gazes as we move about the world, stop your offensive comments and stop acting as if we always want to hurt or touch you because most us are not even THINKING ABOUT YOU.
3. So many white people are so racist and annoying that many of us try to avoid interaction with them at all costs. It's just too exhausting. 4. Every group has idiots who create "chaos", but we are the only race who gets blamed for "everything" that a few black folks do. Not all black ppl are the same. Just leave us alone.
A very non-scary black woman in pdx.
Posted by blues_singer4u on November 4, 2008 at 11:14 AM · Report

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